Wołomin is situated approximately 20 km (12 mi) east of Warsaw, the capital of Poland, near the railway to Białystok.

In the 1990s and 2000s, the town was synonymous with the "Wołomin gang", one of two major organised crime groups in the country.

Since the 19th century, and especially after the foundation of the railway in 1862, Wołomin became a summer holiday destination for Warsaw citizens.

A number of activists of pre-war Polish social organizations were sent to concentration camps by Germans.

During World War II, the Jews of Wołomin were forced into a ghetto set up by Nazi German administration on 15 November 1940, along the railway line between the streets of Kobyłka, Wspólna, Wiejska, Glinka and Cementowa.

Deportations aboard Holocaust trains to Treblinka extermination camp began on 19 August 1942.

In 1944 a substantial battle was fought near the town between the Soviet armoured units and German 39th Panzer Corps.

BS Wołomin is a professional women's basketball team, they play in the Basket League.